Library
local_library Home Repository

360-Degree Distribution of Biofilm Quantity and Community in an Operational Unchlorinated Drinking Water Distribution Pipe

Journal Article (2020)
Authors

Gang Liu (Oasen, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Space Systems Egineering)

Ya Zhang (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign)

Xinlei Liu (ChemE/Catalysis Engineering)

F Hammes (Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology)

Wentso Liu (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign)

G.J. Medema (KWR Water Research Institute, TU Delft - Sanitary Engineering)

Peter Wessels (Oasen)

W.G.J. van der Meer (Oasen, TU Delft - Sanitary Engineering, University of Twente)

Research Group
Sanitary Engineering
Copyright
© 2020 G. Liu, Ya Zhang, X. Liu, Frederik Hammes, Wen Tso Liu, G.J. Medema, Peter Wessels, W.G.J. van der Meer
To reference this document use:
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b06603
More Info
expand_more
Publication Year
2020
Language
English
Copyright
© 2020 G. Liu, Ya Zhang, X. Liu, Frederik Hammes, Wen Tso Liu, G.J. Medema, Peter Wessels, W.G.J. van der Meer
Research Group
Sanitary Engineering
Issue number
9
Volume number
54
Pages (from-to)
5619-5628
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b06603
Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Abstract

In the present study, triplicate rings of 360° pipe surfaces of an operational drinking water distribution pipe were swabbed. Each ring was equally divided into 16 parts for swabbing. The collected swabs were grouped into 3 sections and compared with the biofilm samples sampled by sonication of specimens from the same pipe. The results showed that the biofilm is unevenly distributed over the 16 parts and the 3 sections of the pipe surface. Both the active biomass and the number of observed OTUs increased as the measurements proceeded from the top to the bottom of the pipe. The bacterial community was dominated in all sections by Proteobacteria. At the genus level, Nitrospira spp., Terrimonas spp., and Hyphomicrobium spp. were dominant in all sections. Gaiella spp. and Vicinamibacter spp. dominated in S-I, Blastopirellula spp. and Pirellula spp. dominated in S-II, while Holophaga spp. and Phaeodactylibacter spp. dominated in S-III. When swabbing and pipe specimen sonication were compared, the results showed that the sampling strategy significantly influences the obtained biofilm bacterial community. A consistent multisectional swabbing strategy is proposed for future biofilm sampling; it involves collecting swabs from all sections and comparing the swabs from the same position/section across locations.